Mali proposes five-year election delay to West African bloc

FILE PHOTO: Mali's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdoulaye Diop speaks during a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia November 11, 2021. Yuri Kochetkov/Pool via REUTERS

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's interim authorities proposed to its West African neighbours that a transition back to democracy following a 2020 military coup be extended by five years, the foreign minister said in comments broadcast on Saturday.

The transitional government initially agreed to hold presidential and legislative elections in February 2022, 18 months after Colonel Assimi Goita led the overthrow of President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita.